Carter Powers Jays Past Angels

Major leagues

Carlos Delgado bristled at the suggestion that Toronto teammate Joe Carter is having a bad year.

“I can’t understand it,” Delgado said. “There aren’t too many players out there with 20 homers and 98 RBIs who are having a bad year.”

Carter drove in five runs Monday night, including two in a five-run eighth inning, as the Blue Jays erased four- and three-run deficits to defeat the Anaheim Angels 12-10 for their fourth straight victory.

Carter’s heroics spoiled a banner night by the Angels’ Darren Erstad, who drove in five runs with his first career multi-homer game.

Erstad broke an 0-for-18 slump with his 15th home run of the season, a two-run shot to right in the Angels’ three-run first. He hit his 16th of the year in the eighth, sending a three-run shot to right for a 10-7 lead. Tim Salmon hit his 30th home run of the season and 150th of his career, a solo shot to left to make it 4-0 in the third.

Dan Plesac (1-3), who gave up Erstad’s three-run shot, got the victory for being in the right place at the right time, and Kelvim Escobar pitched the ninth for his 12th save of the season.

Indians 2, Orioles 1

Cleveland

Omar Vizquel’s two-out single in the seventh drove in Pat Borders with the go-ahead run as red-hot Cleveland defeated Baltimore.

After Orel Hershiser and Scott Kamieniecki dueled brilliantly for six-plus innings, Borders lined a one-out double off the wall in right against Alan Mills (2-2). Marquis Grissom struck out and Vizquel stroked a single that scored Borders easily, even though he stumbled around third.

Baltimore second baseman Roberto Alomar was 0 for 2 and was hit by a pitch in his first start since Aug. 26. He left in the sixth inning, but the team said he wasn’t hurt. Alomar was on the disabled list from July 20 to Aug. 26 with a strained groin and has been bothered all year by a sore shoulder he hurt against the Indians in May.

Tigers 6, Rangers 2

Detroit

Damion Easley’s two-run homer powered Willie Blair to his 16th win as Detroit handed Texas its fourth consecutive loss.

Ivan Rodriguez hit a two-run homer for the Rangers, who have dropped 14 of 22 overall and are 10-3 in their last 13 road games.

Blair (16-6) won his third consecutive start and fourth in his last five.

Brewers 8, Chisox 5 (10)

Chicago

Jeromy Burnitz singled in the go-ahead run in the 10th inning and Milwaukee’s victory keeps the Brewers within 5-1/2 games of Cleveland in the A.L. Central.

Darrin Jackson doubled off Robin Ventura’s glove at third, Julio Franco singled and Burnitz followed with another hit off Matt Karchner (3-1). Franco scored the second run on Karchner’s wild pitch and Jesse Levis hit an RBI single to cap the three-run 10th.

Twins 7, Athletics 2

Minneapolis

Rookie Dan Serafini pitched a five-hitter for his first major league victory as Minnesota defeated Oakland.

Serafini (1-0) was making his fourth career appearance and second start.

Another Twins rookie, Brent Brede, went 4 for 5 with his second home run.

National League

Marlins 8, Dodgers 4

Los Angeles

Moises Alou and Jeff Conine hit three-run home runs and Florida scored all its runs on homers.

The Marlins avoided a four-game sweep and moved within 4-1/2 games of Atlanta in the N.L. East.

The Dodgers’ West lead over San Francisco dwindled to 1-1/2 games.

Neither Atlanta nor San Francisco played Monday.

Cubs 8, Reds 1

Cincinnati

Mark Clark became the first Cubs pitcher in six years to throw back-to-back complete games, pitching a three-hitter as Chicago defeated Cincinnati.

Clark (12-7) struck out six and walked one as he remained unbeaten with the Cubs. The right-hander is 4-0 with a 2.84 ERA in six starts since coming to the Cubs in a six-player trade with the New York Mets.

Phillies 13, Mets 4

New York

Pinch-hitter Kevin Jordan capped a 15-pitch at-bat in the sixth inning with a two-run double and rookie Scott Rolen drove in three runs for Philadelphia.

Clearing the bases

Denny Neagle, who won his 20th game last week, was awarded the National League player of the week honor. Neagle went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 16 innings, including a shutout against Detroit, for the period Sept. 1-7. … Cleveland’s Matt Williams has a career-high 24-game hitting streak. … Cal Ripken is 0 for 16 in his career against Orel Hershiser. … The Indians are 6-1 in September and have a record of 45-17 in the month since 1995.